Stay up to date:Get a free personalized pregnancy and baby newsletter from What to Expect.com

Get your free personalized pregnancy and baby newsletter

or

I'm trying to conceive

I don’t live in the U.S.

First Time Mom

By clicking "SIGN UP," you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We will use your information to send you our newsletters, coupons and special offers, and we share your information with our partners

THANKS FOR SIGNING UP!

Mom Gives Birth During Oklahoma Tornado

Melissa Willets

About the Author

Melissa Willets is a mom of three girls, one of whom is a newborn. She writes about pregnancy, parenting, home, health, and beauty. She loves running and drinking red wine - but never simultaneously.

About the Blog

WhatToExpect.com supports Word of Mom as a place to share stories and highlight the many perspectives and experiences of pregnancy and parenting. However, the opinions expressed in this section are those of individual writers and do not reflect the views of Heidi Murkoff of the What to Expect brand.

Shayla Taylor was in active labor when the deadly Oklahoma tornado hit. Dilated to nine centimeters, the mom-of-one endured contractions as the walls were ripped from the Moore Medical Center.

"We were all just sitting there holding each other's hands and praying," Taylor said to NBC News about the amazing medical staff that supported her during her labor.

As hard as it is to imagine, the floor was quaking and ceiling tiles were falling as Taylor labored. "All of a sudden I could see daylight and the wall was gone," the Oklahoma mom recounted.

Luckily, nurses were able to give her a shot to slow her labor and she was then transferred to another hospital where it was determined she would need a C-section.

Braeden Immanuel was born healthy, thank goodness and his brave mom is doing well also. She shared that her baby's middle name, which she decided upon months ago, means "God is with us." The moniker seems even more poignant given his birth story.

As for the fate of the Taylor's home, thankfully, it is intact. Given the state of many of their neighbors' and friends' homes, this new family-of-four feels very lucky. Unfortunately, they still cannot find their car, which was parked outside the hospital.

As a pregnant woman in her third trimester, I cannot imagine enduring what this mom did. Giving birth is painful and can be scary even when a natural disaster is not ripping the walls off your delivery room.

I give the medical staff and this courageous mama a lot of credit for getting through this dire circumstance and bringing little Braeden into the world safely. This is only one story of hope that has shone through the devastation of the Oklahoma tornado.